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Thursday, February 20, 2014

Deep-Cut Studio: Planet Themed Space Gaming Mat Reviewed!

Today we will take a closer look at the Deep-Cut Studio planet themed space gaming mat but before we continue first of all a short introduction about the company and their huge range of gaming mats. Deep-Cut Studio is a Lithuanian artisan studio, manufacturing miniature and RPG games accessories. They mainly focus on gaming mats for various wargames as well as wholesale of laser-cut scenery and buildings.

They also provide a wide array of services for companies such as graphic design, drawings, laser-cut and engraved products made out of MDF, plastic, glass, steel, etc., printed material on paper, cardboard, PVC, fabrics, etc. And they are always open for any commission or custom work and ideas. Their current range includes a large assortment of gaming mats in both 3'x3' and 4'x6' size with or without hex grids.

The packaging

I was happily surprised with the extremely fast delivery of the product and it was even delivered by express services and signed for! The shipping price for individual mats is a flat rate of £9.90 worldwide, with each additional item shipped for free. So when you bundle your purchases with your mates or club you can do a very good deal but even when buying an individual mat, the shipping cost is well-worth the money.

The gaming mat was delivered in excellent condition and was packed in a sturdy cartonboard tube further wrapped with a plastic foil to avoid water damage during the shipping. This sturdy cartonboard tube is also ideal to store and transport your mat.

Playable straight from the tube!

The product I will review today is the 3'x3' planet themed space gaming mat which is roughly 91,5 x 91,5cm for the users of the metric system. This mat as with the other variants available in the Deep-Cut Studio gaming mat range is ideal to be used for epic space battles such as the hugely popular Star Wars: X-Wing game by Fantasy Flight Games. You can also easily use this mat to create a nice background for taking pictures and show your painted spacecraft.

The actual gaming mat is as previously mentionned shipped in a cartonboard tube and has been rolled up for easy shipping. The easiest way to straighten the gaming mat is to roll the mat in the opposite direction as how it was initially rolled. To straighten the corners and edges you might want to make smaller rolls for a faster result. After you have smoothened the gaming mat it's ready to be used in your space battles!

This is one of my favorite features as it allows you to quickly install the gaming mat when you're playing at your local club or a mate's house. It also saves you the hassle of searching for valuable storage space as this mat rolled up in the cartonboard tube can be stored everywhere due to its small and thin size.

Quality inspection

You can clearly see that this mat is created to be robust and sturdy so it can easily survive dozens of epic space battles. The mat is manufactured out of a very durable PVC material and is finished with some excellent artwork. The actual mat is only 0.4mm thick but yet provides a very strong playing surface.

You can clearly see the good quality of the printing when you take a look at the following close-up. This realistic artwork is supplied by various talented studios and artists and really make the mat, the magnificent playable surface it is. If all these qualities aren't enough you can even use water based markers and pens to make notes or mark objectives or destroyed spacecraft according to the packaging blurb but I haven't tried this yet.

My only fear is that the nicely printed surface can be scratched when not handled with care and the printed artwork will suffer the most during the actual gameplay. This is why I certainly recommend to pick and place the models instead of moving them across the mat. Note that the scratching really depends on how you decide to handle the mat as when you handle it with care the chance for scratching is slim.

In action

I have also added this picture of a similar mat in action during a Star Wars: X-Wing tournament sponsored by Deep-Cut Studio. As you can see much better than just playing on a tabletop or black cloth!

The conclusion

As you can read I'm highly recommending this excellent gaming mat as it's great to be used for your space battles instead of a black piece of cloth. This mat can also be easily stored and transported due to the chosen material which allows you to roll and unroll your mat endlessly. The thing you will probably like the most is the low price of only £22.90 excluding the shipping cost! You can also order the larger 4'x6' mat for the price of £39.90 with optional hexes depending on the games you want to play. These mats and many other gaming mats can be purchased directly from Deep-Cut Studio.